Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

Junior High Football Offers Hope

The Kimball High football program is suffering right now with a low number of athletes checked out which in turn results and not being able to match up with their opponents and the losses keep piling up. The Horns had to drop to the 8-man game because of the lack of numbers, and at their last game I noted they had only 14 players suited.

I talked with Dane Wurdeman who coaches the Kimball Junior High football program this week and he has a positive attitude that things are going to get better in this department as he has 21 young men checked out and he feels they will stay with the program as they advance. On top of this, the Kimball Shark program for kids 3rd through 6th grades have a good turnout and some community members are stepping up to coach and direct this program as well.

The Kimball Junior High team has played a couple of games already and although they are still looking for the first win, coach Wurdeman has seen some positive results. 

In their game with Hemingford to open the season, coach Wurdeman gave me his account of how things went. “The game started well as we received the opening kickoff and were able to go down and score with Shay Heim carrying a toss down the sideline for the TD. Connor Deboodt recorded a quarterback sack in the end zone giving us 2 more points. Heim scored again in the 3rd quarter as we kept our lead and we led the entire game until with 1:45 left in the game, we didn’t convert a third down play and had to punt which gave them good field position. Three plays later we had them with a 4th and 6 situation which they converted and went on to score for the win.

Neither team was ready for the cold and wet day we played in, and turnovers and special teams proved to be an issue. We as coaches were really proud of the way our kids came out and played hard. A shout out to Connor Deboodt, Braxton Miller and Ryker Behrend for their defensive play with lots of tackles. Mason Holms and Branson Kiefer both had interceptions. Kyler Lusche did a nice job at quarterback. This game snuck up on us and we were not as good as we will be as the season continues and we get more practice” Wurdeman said.

Kimball hosted Bridgeport in game two and the first half was a defensive battle with both teams scoring and missing their PAT. Kyler Lusche was able to punch in a quarterback sneak from 1 yard. Coach Wurdeman said “Our offensive line played tough in the first half, but in the second half we got pushed around and we couldn’t move the ball much inside. When the inside game is shut down, the outside game is also easy to stop”. Wurdeman went on to say “We just need to play 4 quarters and keep our heads up when something bad happens. We are trying to teach our boys to just keep playing hard whistle to whistle”. The final score was 22-6 in Bridgeport’s favor. 

Men’s Golf Wrapping Up

A thank you to Randy Bohac for the information he provided on the Thursday Night Men’s Golf League that is wrapping up there 2020 season. They will be holding a year end scramble this Sunday, October 4th at the Four Winds Golf Course.

They began their season back in April and played a 9 week season with 28 a two-man teams. At the end of league play they had a season ending tournament followed by weekly fun scrambles using a different format each week.

The winners this past season saw Mike Coleman and Bill Hinton win the RED division, Michael Reuter and Lynn Anthony win the WHITE division, and Mark and Jake Daum win the BLUE division. The winners of the season ending league tournament was the team of Dean Golding and Bill Shain.

A hole-in-one to report that occurred at the Four Winds on a windy day this past Monday-- September 28. Daniel Mark Combs got his ace on hole number 17 from 174 yards with a 7 iron which was witnessed by playing partner Tim Brightman.

Stolen Golf Carts

Four Winds Chad Wise is also passing along a word of caution to all golf cart owners that there has been golf carts being stolen in the area from different golf course locations so be aware in case you need to take extra precautions.